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THE PERSONALITY TYPES LIKELY TO ACHIEVE BUSINESS SUCCESS

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Recruiters seeking business-focused, leadership figures to drive their teams should use personality types to provide the right balance. Here’s how.

Sage South Africa, one of the country’s leading service providers for small and medium-sized enterprises, has compiled research to reveal the five personality types more likely to succeed in business. Of the sixteen potential personality types into which the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) can categorise you, some are statistically more likely to achieve larger incomes, higher levels of responsibility, and to manage large teams.

MBTI
The MBTI categorises personalities by determining a person as being one of two dichotomous options:

Extravert or Introvert

INtuitive or Sensing

Thinking or Feeling

Judging or Perceiving

While not the most reliable personality test, the MBTI is popular because it is easy to administer and quickly gives a detailed description of a person’s preferred way of working, the sort of roles they like to carry out, and their likely stressors. In other words, it is the ideal recruitment tool for creating driven but balanced teams.

Which Types Are Most Successful?
ENTPs, known as “inventors”, are risk takers and enjoy testing the boundaries for what can be achieved. They are the most likely to start their own business and are often attracted to job roles abroad.

“Inspectors” are ISTJs and are known for their attention. They like to do everything by the book, often frustrating their more brash and enthusiastic colleagues, but excel in roles where small details simply must not be overlooked.

ESTJs are the “supervisors” and make more natural managers and leaders. They like roles which offer long-term stability and thrive off of performing mental tasks to provide a disorganised project or team with structure.

The INTJ is the “mastermind” and, as the name suggests, they relish applying logic to solve complex problems. Unfortunately, this desire for independence means they often clash when forced to work with others.

Finally, there is the “CEO – the ENTJs. Rather than obstacles, they see potential solutions, and relish hard work and long hours. They will always put the business first and admire those that can make fast, definitive decisions.

What Do They Have In Common?
All of these personalities are “Thinking” types, meaning they prefer to use facts over personal experience when making decisions. This means they tend to view things very logically and value efficiency of achieving desired outcomes over protecting the feelings of others. This ability to make unpopular decisions means they can drive results quickly and explain their reasoning clearly when challenged.

Recruiters Should Provide A Balance
However, these characteristics aren’t always a good thing. Being able to argue firmly can result in a halt to office productivity when two stubborn personalities clash. Equally, their obsession with winning can come at the expense of damaging office relationships.